Sound the Bugle
by Hermione-2113
Summary: A songfic to Sound the Bugle, by Bryan Adams. I'm not sure about the rating, so it's PG-13 to be safe.


Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, and I don't own the song.  
  
A/n: I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this - let me know what you think...  
  
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Severus Snape carefully measured the last dose of Augery feather to the potion sitting on his desk. The goblet of liquid hissed, darkening in color to a deep slate-gray. He nodded - in all his experience with potions, only this one turned that particular shade. It was fitting, after all, that the most deadly brew known to wizardkind have a color all its own.  
  
  
  
*Sound the bugle now - play it just for me  
  
As the seasons change - remember how I used to be  
  
Now I can't go on - I can't even start  
  
I've got nothing left - just an empty heart*  
  
  
  
With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair. Perfectly completed. Difficult as this potion was to make, he had handled it easily - my final triumph, he thought with a slightly bitter chuckle.  
  
  
  
*I'm a soldier - wounded so I must give up the fight  
  
There's nothing more for me - lead me away...  
  
Or leave me lying here*  
  
  
  
His spying days were over. Voldemort had known since he'd returned that it was a farce. Cunningly, he'd toyed with Severus for a bit, welcoming him back into the Death Eaters' fold. He'd even been given false information, which he'd passed to Dumbledore, undermining his own cause. But, eventually, the cat tires of playing with the mouse. At the last meeting, just a few hours ago, Severus had been denounced for a traitor. He'd been seconds away from facing the killing curse when he'd grabbed for the Portkey hidden in his pocket.  
  
  
  
*Sound the bugle now - tell them I don't care  
  
There's not a road I know - that leads to anywhere  
  
Without a light I fear that I will - stumble in the dark  
  
Lay right down - decide not to go on*  
  
  
  
Severus wasn't sure, really, why he hadn't just let Voldemort finish him off - but then, he supposed that even he deserved to die with dignity and peace. It was simple, really - he'd come straight down to the dungeons after he'd returned, and assembled the ingredients for the potion. What else was there to do, really? No longer useful as a spy. His potions knowledge was formidable, true, but it just wasn't enough. It was time for Severus Snape to rest. His pale fingers curled around the stem of the goblet, and he raised it to his lips.  
  
"Professor?"  
  
With a soft curse, he slammed the potion down as the student's voice grew louder, echoing off the stone walls, until a figure in black robes turned into his office.  
  
Hermione.  
  
  
  
*Then from on high - somewhere in the distance  
  
There's a voice that calls - remember who you are.*  
  
  
  
"Professor Snape?" She repeated, breathing slightly hard. "Headmaster Dumbledore sent me, sir. He said you hadn't returned - he asked me to find you..."  
  
She broke off as he shook his head. "My...excursion...was a failure, Miss Granger," he said heavily, not even bothering to scowl at her. "You may tell the Headmaster that, and that I wish to be left alone to rest." It was certainly the truth, he thought.  
  
She nodded, but then turned back to him, biting her lower lip doubtfully. "Professor, are you sure you're all right?"  
  
As 'all right' as one can be, after a half-hour or so of the Cruciatus curse, he thought, he thought dryly. Odd, that she noticed - he'd become quite apt at hiding his symptoms. But then, she'd always been perceptive. She'd been a pleasure to teach, he reflected. 'Why not?' he thought. It wasn't as if he needed to put on a show for Voldemort anymore. Picking up a spare sheet of parchment, he quickly scrawled a note. "I assure you that I am quite well, Miss Granger. Please return to the Headmaster now" he told her, then handed her the parchment, folded over once. "Open that once you have returned to your dormitory." That should get her too far away to stop him before she read it. She nodded again, and was about to turn to leave, when her eyes, stopping on his goblet, widened.  
  
Professor Snape, is that...the Muertas Potion?"  
  
  
  
*If you lose yourself - your courage soon will follow  
  
So be strong tonight - remember who you are.*  
  
  
  
His lip twisted in a sour smile. "Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Granger. If you would go now?"  
  
She glared back at him. "Don't be funny. I'm not stupid - I know what that does." She shook her head, sinking into a frayed armchair, not breaking eye contact with him. "Why?" She asked simply. "Why do this?"  
  
Wearily, he sat back again. "Miss Granger, I have passed my usefulness, and as I told you, I wish to rest." He laughed, quietly. "You say that you are not stupid - look me in the eye and tell me one person in this school who would actually care."  
  
She was silent for a long, long moment, and when she raised her head again, he was surprised to see tears in her eyes.  
  
"Me," she said quietly. 


End file.
